2008 Chicago Underground Film Festival: Official Lineup

By Mike Everleth ⋅ October 26, 2008

This is the 15th year for the Chicago Underground Film Festival, but it’s the first edition of the fest to run since being acquired by IFP/Chicago. However, other than moving the festival from its traditional late August position to Halloween season, it looks to be the same kick-ass festival it’s always been.

There doesn’t appear to be any change in tone or style to the festival and many CUFF alumni, such as Todd Verow and James Fotopoulos, have returned with new films. Once again there’s an impressive mix of provocative documentaries, experimental features and lots and lots and lots of short films.

With a fest this big, this comprehensive and this impressive I have only a few Underground Film Journal shout-outs. First, there’s Craig Baldwin‘s mind-boggling Mock Up on Mu, a movie so jam-packed with so much info, storylines and images from other feature films, that it’s really enough entertainment for 10 movies.

Actually, that’s the only feature shout-out I have. On the short film front, there’s Chicago native Lisa Barcy‘s Mermaid, which I haven’t seen the full thing, but the re-edited version I did catch was brilliant enough. I’m dying to see the full version. So, see it yourself and tell me how it is so I can feel jealous. Then I highly recommend Tony Gault‘s remixed Case Studies in Psychotherapy, which succeeds in being totally sadistic and hilarious.

Other than that, here’s the full, outrageous lineup:

Oct. 297:30 p.m.:Anywhere USA, dir. Chusy Haney-Jardine. A trio of stories in which a man gets beaten by his wife everyday at 2:00 p.m.; an eight-year-old accidentally eats a pot brownie; and a man eating a steak realizes he doesn’t know any black people.

Oct. 305:30 p.m.:An Alternative to Slitting Your Wrist, dir. Owen Lowery. The director makes a list of 52 things he wants to accomplish per week for an entire year, then documents his attempt to do all those things.

7:15 p.m.:How to Cross a Border, dir. Tim Parsa. In this documentary, an American expat living in Mexico City decides he wants to return home and tries to help a Mexican horse groomer cross the border into the U.S. to work.

10:30 p.m.:Hoopeston, dir. Thomas Bender. Hoopeston is a real town just outside of Chicago that went from being the global capital of sweet corn production to a devastated community in just a few short years. Meet some of the more intriguing residents, including a Wiccan who founds the nation’s first witch school, a beads industry transplant from Virginia Beach, a pagan CEO and the young leader of the Corellian Tradition.

Oct. 315:30 p.m.:The Golden Age of Fish, dir. Kevin Jerome Everson. A fragmentary history of Cleveland, OH from the prehistoric past to the late twentieth century.

8:00 p.m.:Night Tide, dir. Curtis Harrington. In this 1961 underground classic, Dennis Hopper stars as a sailor who falls in love with a sideshow performer, who may just be a real-life mermaid.

8:45 p.m.:A Necessary Death, dir. Daniel Stamm. A film student wants to make a project about a potential suicide victim, so he hooks up with a man who wants to kill himself before his brain tumor does the deed first.

10:30 p.m.:Such Hawks, Such Hounds: Scenes From The American Hard Rock Underground, dirs. Jessica Hundley, John Srebalus. Hard rock gets the history treatment in this profile of bands such as Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, Corrosion of Conformity, the Melvins, Bardo Pond, Comets on Fire, Fu Manchu, Kyuss and many more.

Nov. 11:00 p.m.:The Atom Smashers, dirs. Clayton Brown, Monica Ross. American scientists race to find “the god particle” just at the same time when funding for science is being slashed by the government in this documentary.

2:45 p.m.:Wellness, dir. Jake Mahaffy. A salesman for a so-called miracle drug slowly begins to realize he’s being scammed by his employer.

4:30 p.m.:Between Something & Nothing, dir. Todd Verow. Two art school students get into trouble when one of them develops a homosexual relationship with a male hustler and the other becomes involved in a bad drug deal.

6:30 p.m.:The Juche Idea, dir. Jim Finn. “Juche” is the official North Korean religious and political ideology and it means “self-reliance.” In Finn’s film, a South Korean video artist takes a residency in the North and tries to bring “Juche” into the world of revolutionary art.
Screening with Whoop Draft (Water Babies), dir. Usama Alshaibi

8:30 p.m.:Accidents at Home and How They Happen, dir. Jennifer Reeder. After her twin sister commits suicide, a young woman’s life starts falling apart and she starts contemplating following in her sibling’s footsteps.

9:30 p.m.:Sleep Weep (The Zookeeper), dir. James Fotopoulos. After his wife is brutally raped and murdered, a grief stricken zookeeper befriends a damaged young boy who collects porn and terrorism videotapes.

10:15 p.m.:Mock Up on Mu, dir. Craig Baldwin. The legendary collage filmmaker is back with his latest feature, a surrealistic blend of spy, sci-fi, Western and horror genres. Fiction and non-fiction archival material blend together to tell the rich history of the militarization of space from the viewpoint of three diverse individuals: Jet Propulsion Laboratory founder Jack Parsons, artist Marjorie Cameron and author L. Ron Hubbard. (Read the underground movie review)

12:00 a.m.:I <3 Presets. A live performance by Rob Ray, Jon Satrom, and Jason Soliday, in which they manipulate found sounds and GIF images.

3:00 p.m.:It’s in the Game, dir. Dylan Griffin. This documentary takes a probing look into the video game industry, including its marketing tactics and the numerous “quality of life” lawsuits filed against Electronic Arts.